This item deals with an accusation of plagiarism levelled against Raymond Keene in the magazine Inside Chess: May 3rd, 1993, pages 24-25; June 14th 1993, page 19 and February 7th 1994, page 3. We are grateful to Inside Chess, now owned by Chess Café, for…

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Kingpin reader Florence Manny (Manila, The Philippines) writes: ‘Grandmaster Keene’s twin acts of treachery against Korchnoi in the 1978 World Championship are in my humble opinion the apogee of his two-timing career. He stitched up Korchnoi before the match by signing a contract he had…

RTG Ventures, Inc. (OTCBB: RTVG), Part I – Mind Games [First published on 11 December 2003 on the website www.stockpatrol.com] Investors in the United States face a fundamental problem when it comes to assessing businesses that claim to be centered in the Peoples Republic of…

How Could You Do This Raymond? An open letter to Raymond Keene 4 April 2000 Raymond Keene and a Matter of £50,000 – The Full Truth Emerges 8 August 2001 Is Fraud a Brain Game? 6 January 2002 A ‘Pump-and-Dump’ Fraud from Brain Games 21…

Lev Khariton The attractive countryside of Meudon is a 15-minute train ride from Paris. Here I came to interview Boris Spassky just three days before his 60th birthday. He reminiscences about his life, his chess career, his rivals and friends. Dear Grandmaster, I should…

Andy Lewis A common Arimaa starting position Anyone for a variation on chess? Is chess played out? This concern has been voiced periodically over the history of the game, and the challenges has never been more profound: over-refinement of opening-theory; perfection of endgame technique;…

Sarah Hurst was a regular contributor to CHESS magazine in the 1990s and also edited the British Chess Federation’s newsletter, ChessMoves. Her fine book Curse of Kirsan: Adventures in the Chess Underworld is now available on Kindle at a bargain price. Since 2002 she has been translating…

Why Life Does Not Imitate Chess Part 3: The Visionary Followers of Garry Kasparov on Facebook will have noted that he has taken to styling himself as a ‘politician’. What’s his track record? All chess players will know about his campaign for FIDE president…

This Armageddon-style knockout tournament will take place amid the splendour of the Vladimir Putin Memorial Tearoom, St Petersburg. Play will begin on Christmas Day and continue until one player is left standing. He will be declared the winner and carry off the Prince Salman Bone-saw…

Chess and Early Cold War Propaganda Chess, like many sports, has been used as a political instrument. Files recently released by the National Archives reveal how the Soviet Union exploited chess for propaganda during the early years of the Cold War (1953–1960). In December 1953,…